City says it’s helping Charlotte’s Central Flea Market find a new home
City of Charlotte officials said they are working to find a new site for the Central Flea Market, a collection of more than 200 vendors who were kicked out of a city-owned property to make way for development.
The city has not given an exact timeline, but Assistant City Manager Brent Cagle said during a City Council meeting on Monday that the city was working with the vendors and their representatives to find an alternative site. He said the city should provide an update over the next 10 days.
Cagle said the city was also considering leasing a city-owned property to a skate park, which also operated on the site but was shut down.
Charlotte evicts market vendors
The market vendors — many of them Spanish-speaking, selling everything from power tools to toys and exotic fruits — operated on weekends at the large parking lot near the corner of Central Avenue and Albemarle Road. Hundreds of vendors would show up every week, accompanied by food trucks and dessert stands.
In mid-February, police officers arrived and evicted them from the property.
Cagle said the lease that allowed the market to operate was held by one individual and expired in September. Vendors paid rent to him to operate there, and he paid rent to the city. After the lease expired, the city allowed the vendors to operate until construction on the site appeared “imminent,” Cagle said.
Construction has yet to begin. The city gave no specific timeline on when it is expected.
‘We failed them’
Among City Council members, there were mixed reactions to the city’s update.
“When you tell me progress, that’s not enough,” Councilwoman Dimple Ajmera said.
Ajmera echoed the complaints of vendors, who have spoken at previous City Council meetings and asked the city to help them find a new place to operate.
Many vendors said they rely on their income from the market to pay rent or feed their families. They also pointed to its cultural value and the sense of community that it built.
Ajmera said the city should quickly find a site for the vendors, but also include them in the planned development — a mixed-use hub with restaurants, offices, a park and more than 1,000 homes.
“We talk about displacement all day long,” but have displaced these vendors whose livelihoods depend on the market, Ajmera said.
“We failed them,” she said.
Councilman Ed Driggs said he regretted the hardship that the vendors face, but he resists “the suggestion that it is our obligation to accommodate this need for space.”
He added that the city was generous in allowing the vendors to operate without a lease for several months, but said better communication ahead of time could have prevented the controversy.
Vendors have said they were caught off-guard when police arrived and shut down the market. While the lessee was notified ahead of time, some vendors said they had no idea they were going to be kicked out.
An attorney for the vendors could not be reached for comment.
City Manager Marcus Jones said the city was “maybe too polite” in its relationship with the market.
“I believe we have done a good job of communicating that Eastland was going to change dramatically,” he said.
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 10:59 AM.
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